Search Results (9)

The first half of the 19th century witnessed the rise of Romantic poetry, which focused in depth on individual consciousness, inner worlds, and metaphysical inquiries. This poetic orientation became particularly evident in works centred on themes such as solitude, alienation, and existential quests. Within this context, the present study aims to examine the archetypal and poetic resonances of the poetic voice in Mihail Lermontov’s poem The Demon, based on its sixth and final version dated 1841, in relation to Nikoloz Baratashvili’s poem Secret Voice. Lermontov’s poem is analyzed through the English translation by Charles Johnston, published in 1983, while Baratashvili’s poem is discussed based on the 24-line version included in the fifth edition (1895) of the anthology Poems and Letters (Leksebi da Tserilebi). This study explores the thematic and structural similarities between the two poems within the framework of comparative literature and psychoanalytic criticism, focusing on Romantic archetypes, the uncanny, the shadow figure, and ontological solitude. Furthermore, the dialogue established between Lermontov’s demonic narrator and Baratashvili’s introspective poetic voice reopens discussions on the boundaries of cultural memory, oral narrative patterns, and poetic identity. Ultimately, this comparative analysis reveals the implicit influences of The Demon on Georgian poetry and discusses the intercultural resonances of themes such as voice, self, and archetype in Romantic poetry. Full article

As Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp already set out in his monograph Theory and History of Folklore (1984), folktales, and in particular fairy tales, could preserve the remnants of myths and rites from very ancient stages of human civilisation, dating back to Prehistoric times themselves. The great Indoeuropeanist Georges Dumézil managed to confirm that the Slavic cultures are perhaps those which have best preserved the ancient rites to this day. As José Manuel Losada pointed out, the encounter with transcendence is one of the essential dimensions of myth that defines it and distinguishes it from other manifestations of human creativity. In this article, we will study the idea of immortality that can be found in Russian folktales as published by Aleksandr Afanasyev in his compilation (1855–1863) and trace back the remnants of the Indo-European religion and mythology that they can conceal. Full article

This paper analyzes the cases wherein a previously unknown and unique mythological character (with his/her specific behavior, “personal” traits, appearance, origin, etc.) is generated by a cultural linguistic sign or a fragment of text. This research is based on the Russian cultural and linguistic tradition, mainly in its dialectal version (the language of Russian peasants). Its sources include data published in the late 19th–early 21st century in dictionaries of Russian dialects and, primarily, the unpublished field materials of the Ural Federal University Toponymic Expedition, covering data from the Russian North, the Urals, and the Volga region. According to their nature or origin, the names of characters studied in this paper derive from two types of linguistic signs: (1) Names based on usual forms of standard vocabulary that can be both proper and common nouns; the former may refer to various categories, such as toponyms (names of geographical objects), chrononyms (names of calendar dates), hagionyms (names of saints), names of icons, etc. (2) Names originating from a text, usually folkloric; these are word combinations or phrases that only act as a single unit within their “parent” text. Sometimes, but less often, these consist of one word that is of key importance in the source text. Such a phrase or word can migrate outside the “parent” text or genre, expanding their lexical combinability and changing their syntactic regime to become a name of a mythological character. It takes two sources of motivation for a new character to emerge—a linguistic (a word that seeks a new context) and a cultural one (a semiotically intense context, such as a situation associated with danger, prohibition, omens, aggression, or magical practices). The combination of these incentives is not uncommon, so the stock of mythology used for names is being constantly renewed. Full article

Turn-of-twentieth-century Sámi concepts of spirits of the dead are presented along with accounts of those exceptional individuals able to see, hear, interact with, and sometimes control them, particularly persons termed noaideslágáš, i.e., skilled in noaidi arts. Examples and analysis are drawn from the writings of Sámi author and scholar Johan Turi (1854–1936), contemporaneous accounts recorded by Norwegian folklorist Just Qvigstad (1853–1957), the fieldwork of Sámi legislator, educator, and folklore collector Isak Saba (1875–1921), and an 1886 anthology of Aanaar (Inari) Sámi folklore. Described with varying names and sometimes contradicting accounts, the spirits of the dead in Sámi culture during the early twentieth century could be used to protect or enhance the fortunes of the living, but could also play roles in situations of disease, misfortune, and interpersonal conflict. The various narratives recorded in the period reflect a complex fusion of Indigenous Sámi traditions with ideas stemming from various Christian denominations and the belief legends of non-Sámi neighbors in the Finnish, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish sides of Sápmi—the Sámi homeland. Spirits of the dead figure as potent, expectable, but sometimes unpredictable elements of daily life—beings that could help or harm, depending on how they were dealt with by those with whom they came in contact and those who could wield power over them, particularly noaiddit, Sámi ritual and healing specialists. Full article

The collective ritual of building one-day votive churches (obydennye khramy) was practiced in the European north of Russia between the late 14th and 17th centuries. The product of a syncretism between Orthodox Christianity and native folklore, the ritual’s purpose was to deliver the community from epidemic disease. One-day churches were built of freshly cut logs, on virgin ground, in a prominent place, such as a town square or crossroads. According to local belief, votive objects made from natural materials were simultaneously temporary and eternal; this paper interrogates how one-day churches fit this model. Obydennye khramy were ephemeral structurally, processually, and circumstantially. These were simple, rudimentary votive structures, not built to last nor substitute established churches. By condensing into a single day all of the traditional steps of church-building, the ritual prevented the church from growing old before completion, ensuring its purity through its newness. Built under threat of pestilence, obydennye khramy had the function of realigning the progression of time, putting an end to the period of disease, and thereby allowing humans to fleetingly triumph over natural forces. Obydennye khramy were enduring as objects of intercession, as governance instruments, and in their subsequent representations in the written word and urban topography. Votive churches were spatial icons, mediating between humans and the cosmos and returning to nature as they decayed. The ritual itself, led by religious and secular authorities, performatively reinforced social hierarchies. Obydennye khramy were immortalised in chronicle narratives and occasionally replaced with stone churches, some of which survive today. Full article

Traditional medicines are nature’s gift and our native heritage, which play a vital role in maintaining a disease-free life. Artemisia vestita Wall. ex Besser (family: Asteraceae), popularly known as “Kubsha” or “Russian wormwood”, is a highly enriched folklore medicine with wound- healing, antiphlogistic, antifebrile, antifeedant, anti-helminthic, antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, and antiproliferative potential attributed to the presence of various volatile and non-volatile secondary metabolites. A systematic and extensive review of the literature on A. vestita was carried out via the Web of Science, PubMed, INMEDPLAN, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and NCBI, as well as from several websites. The highly relevant literature contained in 109 references was selected for further inclusion in this review. A total of 202 bioactive compounds belonging to different chemical classes such as terpenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, alkaloids, acetylenes, tannins, carotenoids, and sterols have been reported in A. vestita, which are responsible for different pharmacological activities. The chemical structures obtained from the PubChem and Chem Spider databases were redrawn using the software Chem Draw^® version 8.0. This review paper summarizes the distribution, botanical description, phytochemistry, pharmacological activities, and conservation of A. vestita, which will assist scientists for further investigation. Extensive studies on the active constituents, pharmaceutical standardization, mode of action, and sustainable conservation of A. vestita are needed to further explore its wound-healing and allied medicinal properties. Full article

This article discusses the Christian saints who are most often mentioned in Russian incantations: Sts. George, Nicholas, Florus and Laurus, Kossma and Damian, Zosima and Savvaty of Solovki, as well as the semi-apocryphal saints Sisinius and Solomonia. The first six are among the most popular saints of Russian folk Orthodoxy. The article presents the naming conventions of saints, and their attributes and functions in Russian folk magic. Depending on their magical function, the protagonists of the incantations can act as helpers, protectors, and healers. They assist in various practical areas of life, and protect against real and magical dangers, in addition to helping healing from diseases and wounds. Full article

Linguistic taboos (euphemisms, omissions, and other) are an essential part of Slavic verbal and written culture. In this article, we analyze cryptography as a form of tabooing in the magical texts of the grassroots manuscript tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries (handwritten incantations and herbals). Our main objective is trying to see a system behind separate examples and define which kinds of texts are usually tabooed in incantations and herbals, their topics, and messages. We have managed to find out that the function of keeping secrecy is not relevant for the magical tradition; rather, encryption was used to emphasize the elements that are of special importance. In the book of incantations called the Olonets Codex, dating back to the 17th century, ciphering was used for the names and titles of sacred and demonological characters, antagonists, descriptions of certain rituals, closing phrases for the incantations (amen, “key”), etc. We hypothesize that the encryption is used in the Olonets Codex as a means of retaining the magical strength of all the texts in the manuscripts, protecting from hostile beings, sacralizing where necessary, tabooing what was considered sinful for religious reasons, accentuating the main meanings of the incantations, etc. In the herbals, cryptography is basically used for tabooing of “sinful” or trappy topics (love magic, magic used against courts and authorities, some contexts concerning sorcery, jinx, and “secret” knowledge), and in the texts that had to bear sacral meaning (incantations and prayers). Full article

In publications of Russian folklore, along with authentic texts there are a number of literary stylizations based on folklore. The article traces the history of one such pseudo-folkloric text—a carol which was first published by Ivan Petrovich Sakharov (1807 to 1863) in 1837. It has been established that this carol is a montage of two texts: the first is a carol, printed in 1817 by I.E. Sreznevsky in the Ukrainian Bulletin, and the second is a song included in the Tale of Brother Ivanushka and his Sister Alyonushka (SUS 450). Such contamination is unique and is found only in this one text, which was later reprinted many times. Taking into account Sakharov’s reputation as a falsifier of folklore, there is no reason to doubt that it was he who composed this carol; such contamination of works belonging to different folkloric genres is also characteristic of other of Sakharov’s publications. The carol that Sakharov published attracted the particular interest of researchers of Slavic mythology due to the fact that it described how an old man was going to sacrifice a goat. Several generations of historians saw in this pseudo-folkloric text a description of a ritual that pagan Slavs performed in ancient times. Considering the carol as an historical document, researchers of mythology built their interpretations based on the supposed time of its appearance, the nature of its genre, plot, and individual details. Thus, Sakharov’s pseudo-folkloric creation found an eager audience among scholars, and it stimulated their imagination in picturing the life of pagan Rus’. Full article